OSHA Inspection: AAA PLUMBING POTTERY DIV.OF GERBER PLUMB.FIXT.CORP

Issued

Oct 4, 1989

Abate by

Nov 6, 1989

Penalty

Initial $1,000 · Current $1,000

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:  The
employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were
free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death
or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to:
a) An unacceptable risk of musculoskeletal injuries, such as back
injuries and muscle strains while performing various material
handling tasks, in the mold shop, spray department, bench casting
department and M.A.B. casting department. An effective
musculoskeletal injury prevention program had not been implemented.
While ultimate responsibility for correcting the hazard risks with the
employer, feasible and acceptable abatement methods to correct this
hazard include, but are not limited to the following:
1) Identification of all current employees who experience symptoms of
musculoskeletal injuries.
2) A survey of all work areas to identify andy actions or stressers
which may contribute to back and muscle injuries:
3) An on-going comprehensive training program which will insure that
all employees and managers possess a working knowledge of body
mechanics:  manual lifting and team techniques.
4) A work-conditioning program to help the new employees adapt to the
various material handling tasks.
5) A work-conditioning program to help new employees adapt to the
various material handling tasks,
6) A light-duty program.
7) A medical surveillence system for tracking musuloskeletal injuries.

Issued

Oct 4, 1989

Abate by

Dec 6, 1989

Penalty

Initial $1,000 · Current $1,000

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:  The
employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were
free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death
or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to:
a) An unacceptable risk of musculoskeletal injuries while performing
various material handling tasks in the mold shop, spray department,
administrative and/or engineering controls had not been implemented
to reduce such risks.
While ultimate responsibility for correcting the hazards rests with the
employer:  feasible and acceptable abatement methods to correct this
hazard include, but not limited to the following.
Implementaion of administrative and/or engineering control measures
such as:
1) Job redesign.
2) Reduction of the horizontal load distance from the body.
3) Reduction of the vertical load distance and vertical lifting
distance.
4) Reduction of the lifting frequency.
5) Reduction of the weights being lifted.
6) Utilization of Mechanical lifting aids.
THREE STEP ABATEMENT PLAN:
Step 1 - Effective administrative protection, such as employee training,
physical assessment, job rotation, etc., shall be provided as an
interim protective measure until feasible engineering and/or
administrative controls can be implemented, or whenever such controls
fail to reduce employee exposure to nominal risk.
STEP 2 - Submit to the Area Director a written, detailed plan of
abatement outlining a schedule for the implementation of engineering
and/or administrative controls which will reduce employee injury due to
manual lifting tasks.
STEP 3 - Abatement shall have been completed by implementation of
feasible engineering and/or administrative controls, upon verification
of their effectiveness in reducing the occurrence of musculoskeletal
injuries.